Every U.S. Game Is a Critical Audition for Holden and Donovan

Landon Donovan is trying to show he is still an international force.Credit
Frederic J. Brown/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — In the litany of one-off exhibitions, charity games and assorted tournaments that make up soccer’s calendar, the Gold Cup is an especially strange affair. Staged every two years by the sport’s regional governing body, Concacaf, this month’s iteration has featured: allegations from Belize regarding a failed attempt at match-fixing; dispirited play, including another disastrous performance from Mexico; and one team, Martinique, nearly advancing to the knockout round despite being ineligible for the prize that goes to the tournament’s winner.

(A quick primer: this year’s champion will face the 2015 champion in a special game to determine which team receives a berth in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. Martinique, as an overseas department of France, is not a member of FIFA and thus cannot play in one of its events. If that seems particularly bizarre, it is because it is.)

All that aside, there is still a sliver of import to these matches. Even in the games in which the results are virtually meaningless — like Tuesday’s game here between the United States and Costa Rica, which was only slightly more significant than baseball’s All-Star Game, which was played about the same time at Citi Field — there are at least two players on the United States team with obvious missions in mind.

Stuart Holden and Landon Donovan are, for different reasons, tantalizing enigmas for Coach Jurgen Klinsmann as he prepares for the fall’s World Cup qualifiers and then, almost surely, for next year’s trip to Brazil. Like many of the other top coaches in the tournament, Klinsmann brought something akin to a B team to these games, giving many of his star players — Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley and Tim Howard among them — a needed rest before the European season begins.

Holden and Donovan, however, are playing in the searing heat and hoping to show that they are worthy of a permanent elevation to the elite group. Their plights are a juxtaposition: Holden, the chippy midfielder who has been derailed by injuries, is trying to show he can be the international force everyone imagined he would be; Donovan, the veteran stalwart who took a sabbatical, is trying to show he is still an international force.

After one warm-up exhibition and three group stage games, most indications for the pair are good. Donovan, in particular, has displayed that familiar combination of doggedness and touch that has made him a critical piece of the United States’ attack for so many years.

Yes, he had scored four goals in the previous three games, but his most sublime moment came Tuesday when his pristine pass set up Brek Shea’s game-winning goal, the highlight of the match. Just moments after goalkeeper Sean Johnson made a sharp save at one end, Donovan took the ball down near the sideline and whipped a remarkably precise ball across the field, where Shea could control it in stride and finish.

“The reality for me now is every game is an audition,” Donovan said afterward. “I want to keep enjoying it — I’ll leave the evaluating to other people.”

He was, of course, referring to Klinsmann, who has justifiably made Donovan work his way back into the mix after stepping away from the game last year. Klinsmann has been measured in his praise of Donovan but did not hesitate to label his pass Tuesday as “perfect.”

“There is no other word for it,” he said.

For that reason, among many others, it is hard to imagine Donovan not making an impact next summer in Brazil. Holden’s future, on the other hand, is more difficult to predict. Unlike Chris Wondolowski, whose path to the top United States team seems blocked by established stars like Dempsey and Jozy Altidore, Holden can force his way into midfield contention with consistent success, especially in the knockout rounds of this tournament.

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At 27, Holden has lost nearly three years of his career to a variety of injuries. Fans of his club team, Bolton Wanderers in England, like to chant “Stu-S-A” at Holden, and Holden does not hesitate to admit that shining internationally is a priority.

On Tuesday he played a full 90 minutes in an international for the first time since coming back from a knee injury. Despite the heat, he “still had plenty of gas in the tank at the end,” he said, and although he was not as effective against Costa Rica as he was in the first two group games, there were flashes of what Holden can offer.

Herculez Gomez, a veteran striker, said Holden’s vision in the midfield was special. Klinsmann made a point of noting Holden’s ability to play diagonal passes, which cut open an opponent, spreading a team’s defense and forcing its players to be on the move continually.

That ability could be an important asset for Klinsmann, especially if used in concert with sharp finishers like Dempsey and Altidore. Klinsmann has made no secret of his investment in Holden’s success, alternately noting that Holden is “a work in progress” and that he can give the United States “a very, very valuable option in midfield.”

Holden knows the stakes. He is aware that he “can’t take even one training off” because “there is no guarantee that a shirt will be there for you the next time.”

“Every time I’m on the field,” he said, “I want to show Jurgen that I should be a 90-minute player for the team.”

Donovan surely feels the same way. To them, it does not matter that this is the Gold Cup, does not matter that the players around them are not the usual stars. World Cup qualifying may still be a few months away, but for two players who have their eyes fixed firmly on next summer, the games that truly matter have already begun.

A version of this article appears in print on July 18, 2013, on Page B16 of the New York edition with the headline: Every U.S. Game Is a Critical Audition for Holden and Donovan. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe